Palantir reports 49% revenue growth for its first quarter

Peter Thiel, co-founder and chairman of Palantir Technologies Inc., pauses during a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, Nov. 18, 2019.

Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Palantir, the maker of software and analytics tools for the defense industry and large corporations, reported 49% revenue growth for its first quarter, beating Wall Street estimates. It also came in line with earnings estimates.

Shares initially dipped on the report before closing up more than 9%.

Here are the key numbers:

• Adjusted earnings per share: 4 cents vs. 4 cents expected in a Refinitiv survey of analysts
• Revenue: $341 million vs. $332.2 million expected in the survey

Co-founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, Joe Lonsdale, CEO Alex Karp and others, Palantir has built its business largely on lucrative government deals for its data analytics software. The company said government revenue hit $208 million. It also beefed up its commercial segment during the quarter, with strong growth in the United States. Total commercial revenue hit $133 million.

The company said average revenue per customer grew to $8.1 million. In its fourth-quarter report, the company said average revenue for 2020 came to $7.9 million. Average revenue for its top 20 customers hit $36.1 million.

As of this past quarter, Palantir has 149 customers. The company first disclosed in its prospectus last fall it had 125 customers in the first half of 2020.

Palantir said it had 15 deals worth $5 million or more, and six deals worth $10 million or more.

Palantir partly attributed the quarter's growth to economic recovery in the U.S. and U.K., which helped boost commercial growth. The company said U.S. government revenue gained 83% year over year, while U.S. commercial revenue gained 72% from a year earlier.

Palantir said it expects to bring in $360 million in revenue in its second quarter compared with the $344.3 million expected in a Refinitiv survey of analysts. For the full fiscal year, the company anticipates adjusted free cash flow in excess of $150 million. The company also reaffirmed that it expects annual revenue growth of 30% or more for 2021 through 2025.

Palantir added in the company's earnings call that it was considering adding bitcoin to its balance sheet, saying the cryptocurrency was "definitely on the table." It also accepts bitcoin as a form of payment.

The company went public last September through a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange with an opening trade of $10 per share. The initial price gave Palantir a market cap of $16.5 billion, and the company has since shot up in value. It was worth $30.44 billion as of Monday's close.

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